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☆ Putin likely did not directly order Navalny’s killing, U.S. intelligence agencies conclude
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Floral tributes, portraits of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and messages are seen left outside the former Russian Embassy in Tbilisi on March 1, 2024. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin probably didn't directly order the killing of Alexei Navalny at a remote penal colony in February, according to three sources familiar with the matter. As Russia's most high-profile and popular dissident, Navalny's death dealt a severe blow to the country's opposition movement, which has been brutally suppressed by the Kremlin. Before Navalny's death, there had been tentative discussions about a possible prisoner exchange with Russia involving Navalny and Americans detained in Russia, NBC News previously reported. Navalny's allies allege that Putin had the dissident killed to thwart the proposed prisoner swap that would have freed him.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Navalny, Joe Biden, Sergei Skripal, Navalny's Organizations: Russian Embassy, Kremlin, Washington, Russia's Federal, Service, CIA, National Intelligence, NBC Locations: Tbilisi, Russia's, Russia, Russian, United Kingdom, Western

☆ Exclusive: Hackers stole Russian prisoner database to avenge death of Navalny
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-31 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | Darya Tarasova | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Within hours of opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s death in February in a Russian prison, a group of anti-Kremlin hackers went looking for revenge. This screenshot, provided to CNN by hackers claiming responsibility, shows a hacked website tied to the Russian prison system display messages of support for late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny. Obtained by CNNIt took several hours for the administrator of the online prison shop to notice that Russians were buying food for pennies, according to the hacker involved. CNN was able to match multiple prisoner names in screenshots shared by the hackers with people that, according to public records, are currently in Russian prison. The online prison shop that the hackers appear to have breached is owned by the Russian state and officially known as JSC Kaluzhskoe, according to Russian business records reviewed by CNN.

Persons: Alexey Navalny’s, “ Long, Alexey Navalny, Yulia, Navalny, ” Tom Hegel, ” Hegel, Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden, Alexander Zemlianichenko, ”, Putin, Ukraine “, Hegel, “ Hacktivism, “ Organizations: CNN, Kremlin, JSC Kaluzhskoe, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service, JSC, US, Russian Federal Penitentiary Service Locations: Russian, Russia, Russia’s, US, Yamalo, Moscow, Ukraine, Ukrainian

Many world leaders blamed President Vladimir Putin and his government for Navalny’s death Friday at age 47. Navalny’s team said he was “murdered,” and charged that officials' refusal to hand over his body was part of a cover-up. Yarmysh said that Navalny's mother and his lawyers weren't allowed into the morgue in Salekhard on Monday morning. The U.S. and British ambassadors also mourned Navalny's death at a memorial in Moscow. Over 50,000 people have submitted requests to the Russian government asking for Navalny's remains to be handed over to his relatives, OVD-Info said.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Kira Yarmysh, Lyudmila Navalnaya, ” Yarmysh, Vladimir Putin, Navalny’s, “, ”, Yarmysh, weren't, Ivan Zhdanov, “ lackeys, Navalny's, Navalny, ” Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya Organizations: Investigative, Kremlin, Authorities, Russia’s Federal, Service, European Union Locations: Salekhard, Russia, U.S, Moscow, Russia’s, Kharp, Germany, Brussels

Floral tributes to Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's fiercest foe who died Friday in a Russian penal colony, were removed overnight by groups of unknown people while police watched, videos on Russian social media channels show. Russia's prison service said in the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence. On Saturday, police blocked access to a memorial in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk and detained several people, OVD-Info said. Videos and photos shared on Russian social media channels showed flowers being cleared from monuments to victims of Soviet-era repressions across Russia. The news of Navalny's death comes less than a month before an election that will give Putin another six years in power.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin's, Putin, ”, Nigel Gould, Davies, Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, Alexei, Putin’s, ” Navalnaya, Joe Biden, Washington doesn’t, Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Navalny “, Dmitry Peskov, Kira Yarmysh Organizations: Russia's Federal Security Service, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Russia’s Federal, Service Locations: Russian, Russia, Siberian, Novosibirsk, Moscow, British, Belarus, Eurasia, London, Russia’s, Kharp, Germany, ”

The reported death in prison of Alexei Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent political rival, sent shockwaves throughout Russia and the world on Friday – even if some were unsurprised by the outcome. “There is no doubt that the death of Navalny was the consequence of something Putin and his thugs did,” U.S. President Joe Biden said in remarks at the White House on Friday. The Latest Photos From Ukraine View All 91 ImagesHere is what you need to know about Navalny, his death and Russia’s handling of political prisoners. Who Was Alexei Navalny? Navalny later participated in several mass protests and lobbed criticisms more directly at Putin and other Kremlin officials.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin’s, Putin, Navalny, Joe Biden, “, ” Konstantin Sonin, ” Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, Navalnaya, ”, Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s, Evan Gershkovich, Ilya Yashin, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Alexei Gorinov, Maria Ponomarenko – Organizations: White, overdevelopment, Associated Press, Reuters, Washington Post, University of Chicago, Ukraine, Munich, Russia’s Federal, Service, Nenets Autonomous, Tass, Wall Street Locations: Russian, Russia, U.S, Moscow, Ukraine, Belarus, Germany, Russia’s, Nenets, Nenets Autonomous District, Kharp, Bucha

Alexei Navalny, the fiercest foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin who crusaded against official corruption and staged massive anti-Kremlin protests, died in prison Friday, Russian authorities said. Before his arrest, he campaigned against official corruption, organized major anti-Kremlin protests and ran for public office. Shortly after Navalny’s death was reported, the Russian SOTA social media channel shared images of the opposition politician reportedly in court yesterday. In the footage, Navalny is seen standing up and is laughing and joking with the judge via video link. The day before the sentence, Navalny had registered as a candidate for Moscow mayor.

Persons: Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Navalny, Dmitry Peskov, Putin, Kira Yarmysh, Boris Nemtsov, —, ”, Dmitry Medvedev’s, Sergei Skripal, “ Alexei, David Roher, Oscar, Navalny’s, “, Alexei, alexey, navalny Organizations: Kremlin, Federal Penitentiary Service, People’s Friendship University, Yale, Moscow, Fund, Fighting, YouTube, Federal Security Service, Navalny’s Foundation Locations: ”, Moscow, Germany, Russian, Russia, Kharp, Butyn, Crimean, St, Petersburg, Siberian, Tomsk, Omsk, England, Ukraine

☆ Aleksei Navalny, Putin Critic, Dies in Prison, Russian Authorities Say
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Andrew E. Kramer | Valerie Hopkins | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Aleksei A. Navalny, an anticorruption activist who for more than a decade led the political opposition in President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia, died Friday in a prison inside the Arctic Circle, according to Russian authorities. His death was announced by Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service, which said that Mr. Navalny, 47, lost consciousness on Friday after taking a walk in the prison where he was moved late last year. He was last seen on Thursday, when he had appeared in a court hearing via video link, smiling behind the bars of a cell and making jokes.

Persons: Aleksei A, Vladimir V, Navalny Organizations: Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service Locations: Russia

☆ Aleksei Navalny Outspoken Putin Critic Is Dead, Russian State Media Reports
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Anton Troianovski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

ETAleksei A. Navalny, the most outspoken domestic critic of President Vladimir V. Putin, has died in prison, Russian state media said on Friday. Mr. Navalny’s death was reported by Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service, according to Russian state media. In a statement carried by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency, the penitentiary service said that Mr. Navalny, 47, lost consciousness on Friday taking a walk in the Arctic prison where he was moved late last year. “The facility’s medical staff immediately arrived and an ambulance brigade was called,” the penitentiary service’s statement said. The ambulance doctors confirmed the death of the convict.” Mr. Putin’s spokesman said that the death had been reported to Mr. Putin, according to the Tass state news service.

Persons: Aleksei, Vladimir V, Putin, Navalny’s, Navalny, ” Mr, Putin’s, Mr Organizations: Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service, RIA Novosti, Tass

☆ Aleksei Navalny, Russian Opposition Leader, Dies in Prison at 47
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Valerie Hopkins | Andrew E. Kramer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Aleksei A. Navalny, an anticorruption activist who for more than a decade led the political opposition in President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia while enduring arrests, assaults and a near-fatal poisoning, died Friday in a Russian prison, according to Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service. The prison authorities said that Mr. Navalny lost consciousness on Friday after taking a walk in the Arctic penal colony where he was moved late last year. He was last seen on Thursday, when he had appeared in a court hearing via video link, smiling behind the bars of a cell and making jokes. Kira Yarmysh, Navalny’s press secretary, said in a live broadcast Friday that Navalny’s advisers were not yet able to issue an official confirmation of his death but believed that he had perished. Despite increasingly harsh conditions, including repeated stints in solitary confinement, he maintained a presence on social media, while members of his team continued to publish investigations into Russia’s corrupt elite from exile.

Persons: Aleksei A, Vladimir V, Navalny, Kira Yarmysh, Biden, “, Putin, ” Mr Organizations: Russia’s Federal, Service, White House Locations: Russia, Russia’s, United States

☆ Putin Opponent Alexei Navalny Dies in Arctic Jail, Russia Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Feb. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +5 min

By Guy Faulconbridge, Felix LightMOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia's most prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny collapsed and died on Friday after a walk at the "Polar Wolf" Arctic penal colony where he was serving a long jail term, the Russian prison service said. "Russian authorities publish a confession that they killed Alexei Navalny in prison," Navalny aide Leonid Volkov wrote on social media. "Alexei Navalny paid with his life for his resistance to a system of oppression," France's Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said. "My sincere belief is that it was the conditions of detention that led to Navalny's death," Russian newspaper editor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov told Reuters. Navalny long forecast Russia could face seismic political turmoil, including revolution, because he said Putin built a brittle system of personal rule reliant on sycophancy and corruption.

Persons: Guy Faulconbridge, Felix Light, Alexei Navalny, Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Leonid Volkov, Stephane Sejourne, Vladimir Putin's, Navalny's, Kira Yarmysh, Dmitry Muratov, Putin, Yulia, Andrew Cawthorne Organizations: Federal Penitentiary Service, Nenets Autonomous, IK, Kremlin, Peace, Reuters, KREMLIN, U.S, CIA Locations: Nenets, Nenets Autonomous District, Kharp, Moscow, Russian, Russia, Germany, Siberia, Europe

☆ Jailed Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny had long been a thorn in Putin’s side
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Laura Smith-Spark | Zamira Rahim | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

From prison, Navalny denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine via social media and encouraged anti-war protests across the country. Navalny was detained and sent to a Russian prison in 2021 after he had returned to Russia from Germany, where he was recovering from Novichok poisoning he blamed on the Russian government. Navalny took up Nemtsov’s mantle, becoming Russia’s most prominent opposition figure. Alexey Navalny was given a suspended sentence and his brother was sentenced to a prison term. Russia launched a new fraud accusation and jail threat against Navalny at the end of 2020, increasing pressure on him.

Persons: CNN — Alexey Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Navalny, Alexei Navalny, Dmitry Lovetsky, “, Putin, ”, Kira Yarmysh, Dmitry Peskov, Alexander Litvinenko, Novichok, Sergei Skripal, Russia’s, Boris Nemtsov, Alexey Navalny, ‘ Putin, Oleg, Yves Rocher, “ Putin, ” Navalny, Dasha Navalnaya, Margarita Kotova, gaunt, Alexey, –, Putin –, Alexander Nemenov, vociferously, I’m, Yulia Navalnaya Organizations: CNN, United, Kremlin, CNN Former, Getty, Corruption, Navalny, “, Moscow’s, Peoples University, Transneft, Court, of Human Locations: United Russia, Russia, Ukraine, Siberia, Germany, Moscow, CNN Former Russian, Britain, Russian, English, Salisbury, Siberian, Tomsk, Omsk, France, Sweden, Anadolu, Melekhovo, Vladimir Region, Butyn, AFP, Moscow’s

☆ Russia Says It Finds Ukraine IDs, Tattooed Body Parts at Plane Crash Site
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-26 | by ( Jan. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday it had recovered Ukrainian identity documents and tattooed body parts from the site where a Russian military plane that Moscow says was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war crashed two days earlier near the Ukrainian border. Ukraine has neither confirmed nor denied that its forces downed the plane and said there is no proof of who was on board. On Thursday the Investigative Committee said preliminary findings showed the plane was struck by a surface-to-air missile fired from Ukraine. Ukraine has rejected a Russian assertion that it was forewarned that a plane carrying Ukrainian POWs would be flying over Belgorod region at that time. Russia state media said the black boxes from the plane had been delivered to a special defence ministry laboratory in Moscow and investigators were already working on them.

Persons: Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, Mark Trevelyan, Alison Williams Organizations: Russian, Federal Penitentiary Service, . Security, Reuters Locations: MOSCOW, Russia, Russian, Moscow, Ukrainian, Russia's Belgorod, Ukraine, Belgorod

☆ Wife of Jailed Dissident Kara-Murza Fears for His Life in Siberian Penal Colony
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Nov. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

By Mark TrevelyanLONDON (Reuters) - The wife of jailed Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, who suffers from a nerve disorder after surviving two poison attacks, said on Wednesday she feared for his life after his transfer from Moscow to a Siberian penal colony. Kara-Murza, 42, has a condition called polyneuropathy that takes away the sensation in his limbs unless controlled by medicines and exercise. The fact that they've isolated him to the maximum of course makes me very concerned for his life," Evgenia Kara-Murza said. And the lady I met for the first time yesterday, she has no idea who Vladimir is," she said. He added: "I have no doubt that in the end, our vision of Russia will prevail.

Persons: Mark Trevelyan, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Evgenia Kara, Kara, Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Vladimir, wryly, Mark Heinrich Organizations: Mark Trevelyan LONDON, Britain's, Reuters, Russian, Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth, Development, Liberal International Locations: Moscow, Omsk, Ukraine, Russia

[1/2] Evgenia Kara-Murza, wife of jailed Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza, addresses the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy in Geneva, Switzerland May 17, 2023. Kara-Murza, 42, has a condition called polyneuropathy that takes away the sensation in his limbs unless controlled by medicines and exercise. His wife Evgenia Kara-Murza said exercise was now impossible for him in a cell measuring just 3 x 1.5 metres (9.8 x 4.9 feet), furnished with only a bed and a backless stool, where he has been held since September in a maximum-security penal colony in the city of Omsk. The fact that they've isolated him to the maximum of course makes me very concerned for his life," Evgenia Kara-Murza said. "The politically motivated conviction of Vladimir Kara-Murza is deplorable.

Persons: Evgenia Kara, Murza, Vladimir Kara, Denis Balibouse, Kara, Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin, Vladimir, Mr Kara, wryly, Mark Trevelyan, Mark Heinrich, Gareth Jones Organizations: Geneva, Human Rights, Democracy, REUTERS, Britain's, Reuters, Russian, Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth, Development, Liberal International, Thomson Locations: Geneva, Switzerland, Moscow, Omsk, Ukraine, Russia, Britain

☆ Russia's worker shortage is so bad the economy is leaning on the Soviet-era practice of using prison labor, think tank says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia is leaning more on prison labor amid a dearth of available workers. AdvertisementAdvertisementRussia's worker shortage is so bad, the nation is increasingly leaning on prison labor to prop up its ailing industries and make up for a lack of manpower. That exceeded estimates that Russia made the year prior, when budget makers anticipated bringing in just 15.8 billion roubles from forced prison labor. "The Kremlin has sought to integrate prison labor with certain sectors of the domestic economy to solve this issue." "The recent uptick in the use of forced prison labor in Russia is not merely the transient trend of a post-COVID, economically troubled, or war-hurt Russia.

Persons: —, Sergey Sukhankin, Sukhankin, Vladimir Putin Organizations: Service, Moscow Times, Russia's Federal, Jamestown Foundation, Jamestown, Soviet Locations: Russia, Soviet, Ukraine

☆ Opinion: Welcome to the ‘looking-glass’ world of Putin’s Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Opinion Daniel Treisman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Welcome to the weird, through-the-looking-glass world of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, where everything is its opposite and almost nothing is what it seems. That may hold as well for the still-murky fate of last month’s mutineer, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner group. Daniel TreismanWorse yet for the Kremlin, Prigozhin’s claim — coming from a diehard nationalist — will seem quite believable to many Russians. In this looking-glass world, the president has no time for politics. After the war started, Navalny offered a 15-point program for ending it and rebuilding a democratic Russia.

Persons: Daniel Treisman, “, ”, Vladimir Putin’s, mutineer, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Wagner, Alexander Lukashenko, Dmitry Peskov, Peskov, Prigozhin, Putin, Alexey Navalny, Alexander Zemlianichenko, Orwell, Vladimir Kara, Murza, Emmanuel Macron, Navalny, Angela Merkel Organizations: University of California, CNN, Russian Federal Penitentiary Service, Russian, Putin, Kremlin, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Los Angeles, Moscow, Belarus, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Belarusian, Minsk, St . Petersburg, Kremlin, Russian, Melekhovo, Vladimir, Russia, Kara, Rostov, Sochi, Ukraine, Dagestan, Crimea, “

☆ Jailed Russian opposition figure Kara-Murza faces 'psychological torture', wife says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Evgenia Kara-Murza, wife of jailed Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza, addresses the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy in Geneva, Switzerland May 17, 2023. Vladimir Kara-Murza, who holds Russian and British passports, was a close associate of Boris Nemtsov, an opposition figure assassinated near the Kremlin in 2015. "Had I tried to convince him to give up his fight, I would have betrayed him," Evgenia Kara-Murza said. Despite not being able to speak to him, his children have grown up being acutely aware of the perils of being an opposition figure in Russia. "Their father was first poisoned when our oldest was nine," Evgenia Kara-Murza said.

Azamat Uldarov, a former convict, made his retraction in a video call with Russian news agency RIA-FAN. I had to say it because I had no choice.”“I said whatever I was told to say,” Uldarov then said. Osechkin also claimed that both interviewees, Uldarov and Savichev, had been threatened with murder if they didn’t retract their statements to him. Savichev told Gulagu that his unit was ordered to kill any men 15 years old or older. Wagner has been seeking Savichev for the past 24 hours, according to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, denies the espionage charges. When asked by the judge if he needed translation, Gershkovich said in Russian that he understood everything. The Kremlin has said Gershkovich, the first U.S. journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War, was caught "red-handed". "He is reading a lot in prison - Russian literature in the original Russian," Nozhkina told Reuters, adding that he was reading Leo Tolstoy's masterpiece "War and Peace" about the French invasion of Russia in 1812. Asked about the prison food, Nozhkina said Gershkovich was being given porridge in the mornings and that the food was normal.

Kira Yarmysh, his spokeswoman, said in a video clip on Twitter accompanied by disturbing background music. Navalny's supporters cast him as a Russian version of South Africa's Nelson Mandela who will one day be freed from jail to lead the country. Navalny accused the Russian state of trying to kill him, something it denied. Yarmysh said medicine sent to Navalny's prison by his mother was not collected by prison officials from the post office and was returned. Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn Editing by Peter Graff and Nick MacfieOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

CNN —Jailed Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny has been experiencing severe stomach issues in prison, and members of his team fear that he may have been poisoned again. Navalny lost eight kilograms over the past 15 days in his isolated prison cell, his spokesperson Kira Yarmysh said in a Twitter post on Tuesday. “The lawyer says that an ambulance was called for Alexey Navalny on the night of Friday to Saturday because of an acute stomach pain. “This may sound like nonsense and paranoia to someone else, but not to Navalny after Novichok,” Kobzev tweeted on Tuesday. Investigative journalist Christo Grozev, who worked on CNN’s “Navalny” documentary, said he believes Putin has “motivation” to poison Navalny.

☆ A Russian graveyard reveals Wagner’s prisoner army
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +18 min

The resting places were adorned with simple wooden crosses and brightly coloured wreaths that bore the insignia of Russia’s Wagner Group - a feared and secretive private army. The news agency matched the names of at least 39 of the dead here and at three other nearby cemeteries to Russian court records, publicly available databases and social media accounts. He said gravediggers told him the bodies had come from the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, close to Russia’s border with Donetsk region. According to Russian court documents, Kochas and another man burst into the apartment of an acquaintance while drunk in an attempted robbery. But he refused, so he’s a fool.”A Russian graveyard reveals Wagner’s prisoner army By Felix Light and Filipp Lebedev in Tbilisi and Reade Levinson in London Photo editing: Simon Newman Graphics: Fielding Cage Art direction: Eve Watling Edited by Janet McBride

☆ The US is taking aim at Wagner, the only Russian force seemingly having any success in Ukraine, with crippling sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The US government has taken aim at the notorious Wagner Group with sweeping new sanctions. A pedestrian walks past a mural depicting the logo of the Russian mercenary 'Group Wagner' and a slogan in Russian on January 20, 2023 in Belgrade, Serbia. Srdjan Stevanovic/Getty ImagesA defaced mural of Russia's mercenary group Wagner reading "Wagner Group - Russian knights" on the side wall of an apartment bock in Belgrade on January 20, 2023. Wagner's prominence in Ukraine has been underscored by rifts between the mercenary group and the regular Russian military. "Wagner is becoming a rival power center to the Russian military and other Russian ministries."

"If Bakhmut had been captured when they started their attack in August then it would have been significant. Michael Kofman, an expert on the Russian military at the U.S.-based CNA think-tank, said Moscow appeared committed to the battle because of resources it had already spent rather than because of "sound strategy". WAR OF ATTRITIONFor Russia, Bakhmut, which it calls Artyomovsk, the city's Soviet-era name, has long held political value. Muzyka, the Polish military analyst, said Bakhmut had become a battle of attrition. It could also boost Prigozhin's political capital in Moscow if he can take some credit for such a victory.

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